Sewage sludge prohibition on the cards

FARM assurance schemes in Scotland are poised to prohibit the spreading of untreated urban sewage sludge on accredited farms.

The ban is “almost certain” to be recommended by Scottish Quality Cereals when its production group meets shortly, according to its chairman David Jack. Others are expected to follow suit.

It comes at a time when local authorities are looking for more farmland options to offset the ban on dumping at sea.

George Niblock, environmental chief, with Aberdeenshire Council, told this weeks meeting of the north east agriculture advisory group that he believed land disposal of sludge could tie in with good agricultural practice. But he warned that disposal of agricultural waste was, in turn, set to become much more expensive, as authorities struggled to meet Government targets on environmental protection.

He said proposed groundwater regulations alone could cost individual farmers as much as £800 a year.